Parenting During Unprecedented Times
I asked Colby the first week of our self-imposed quarantine which dystopian movie he thought we were living in. Surely that has to be it, right?
Perhaps we’re all Jim Carrey in The Truman Show? Or Bill Murray in Groundhog Day? Brendan Fraser in Blast From the Past? Something?
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No, these aren’t exactly dystopian movies, but I don’t watch many Sci-Fi movies, so this is all I have to relate it to.
Does anyone else feel like this? Like we’re living in some sort of crazy movie that doesn’t want to end?
Admittedly, most days, I’m fine.
Quarantine
I’m an introvert. I’ve not worked in the corporate world for over 17 years. And we’ve been homeschooling for that long as well.
Staying home is what I choose to do every day.
But being unable to leave the house is different than not wanting to leave the house.
Fortunately, I do believe I made a good selection in choosing my quaranteam.
My family. The nine of us. We make quite the team.
We’ve all been here together, every day, for over 3 weeks now. I would say it’s mostly been all good, but we hit a breaking point last week.
Friday actually.
I can attest to hormones playing a part. It’s been over 3 weeks and, well, with 5 females in the house, it’s bound to happen.
It’s more than that though. It’s tough being “stuck” at home for weeks on end.
Looking at the same walls, same landscape, same people every day.
Even more challenging, not seeing your friends, unable to go about your daily routine, and no way to fellowship with others.
We’re made for relationships and it’s hard not being able to live out that desire of our hearts.
Some more so than others.
This weekend, with gloomy weather and no way to even escape outdoors, emotions came crashing down hard.
In hindsight, it was something trivial between the middle two, but it was enough to cause quite a stir.
We talked it out, shared hurt feelings, and apologized as was necessary.
But it was the aftermath that got me.
I hugged one, and then the other, as they cried in my arms.
“This is so hard. I want everything to go back to normal.”
“I miss my friends.”
I know. I get it. And I understand how hard it is for you to see your friends out and about visiting each other, while I’m the mean mom keeping you home.
I promise, it’s because I care about you.
If I let you go out and you get sick, I’ll never forgive myself.
Plus, because your dad has asthma, I would be the one who would hunker down in your room with you for the duration.
No way would I let one of you go through this alone.
It would just be me and you for as long as you’re sick.
But I don’t want to have to do that. Do you?
Ultimately, I believe there’s lessons to be learned during this time. I’m that person. The one that looks for a lesson in every situation.
Is it patience? Trust? Faith? Obedience?
I’m not sure. I’m not sure about any of this. I don’t understand all of it myself.
It’s a lot. For all of us.
Parenting through this is challenging.
Unprecedented times.
I don’t know if I’m doing this right. I just know I’m trying to keep my family healthy.